Respond to these rapid questions in our A Simple Favor quiz and we will tell you which A Simple Favor character you are. Play it now.
“A Simple Favor” is a delicate balancing act that requires great skill. It’s a suspense thriller told with a broad sense of humour throughout (even slapstick at times). One wrong move could have been fatal, resulting in a film that is overly serious, or that tries too hard to be “relevant,” or, even worse, that is just plain boring. However, the film “A Simple Favor,” directed by Paul Feig, manages to have its cake and eat it too. It is both suspenseful and hilarious at the same time. Despite the fact that it is insightful about the psychological games women can play with one another, it does not burden itself with the need to be “meaningful.” In no way is it attempting to “say something” about “how we live now” or anything along those lines. It’s such a relief to watch a film that isn’t afraid to let its hair down.
Our first clue that this isn’t going to be another gloomy by-the-book thriller comes in the form of the funky stylized credits sequence (created by David Clayton). One of many classic French pop songs plays in the background as the credits roll, a throwback to 1960s comedies or spy capers. The credits feature single-color images of stilettos and purses moving around in angular cut-out shapes, a collage of conspicuous consumption. In addition to “Bonnie & Clyde,” his duet with Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg’s songs “Une Histoire de Plage,” “Laisse Tomber les Filles,” and Jean Paul Keller’s “Ca C’est Arrange” are featured on the soundtrack. It is one of the most important aspects of filmmaking to establish a proper mood from the beginning, and yet so many films fail to do so from the beginning. In “A Simple Favor,” written by Jessica Sharzer and adapted from Darcey Bell’s novel, the film knows exactly what it needs to do to set a tone for the rest of the film.
Stephanie Smothers is played by Anna Kendrick, a single mother who maintains a popular “vlog” on which she posts recipes, parenting advice, and do-it-yourself projects. She has a type-A personality to the extreme, volunteering excessively at her son’s school and making other parents feel like slackers in the process. Stephanie is introduced as being virtually friendless in a couple of brief scenes… that is, until Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), whose son attends the same school as Stephanie’s son, strolls into her life. Following the pickup of the boys from school, Emily has a high-powered job “in the city” (New York), and she persuades Stephanie to join her in drinking martinis. The two of them sit in her opulent, glass-walled home and drink heavily. Stephanie is taken aback. It’s not difficult to understand why. Emily is a casually beautiful woman who dresses in high heels and pinstriped suits that are accessorized with gold watch chains. (Renee Ehrlich Kalfus, who designed the costumes, deserves a lot of praise for her work.) Emily is blunt and direct in her communication with Stephanie, even when she is speaking in front of the children. She swears like a sailor (even when speaking in front of the children). Stephanie finds it hard to believe that she has been “selected” to be this fantastic creature’s friend.
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A few red flags are raised by Emily’s behavior that Stephanie chooses to dismiss. Emily tells her to delete the photo after Stephanie takes it without her permission once. Emily’s tone is so sharp it can cut through a thick piece of glass. Despite Emily’s physical attractiveness, she hides an intimidating and mercurial personality that can be warm and encouraging one minute and slightly frightening the next. Stephanie has an uncontrollable need to apologize, and Emily tells her to stop: “It’s a messed-up female habit.” She’s absolutely correct. Emily, on the other hand, always manages to throw Stephanie off balance just a little bit. Both actresses are working hard in this scene. Kendrick is so awkward that you wish Stephanie would just relax, but her awkwardness is exactly what makes the performance so hilarious. As well as that, Blake Lively is the modern-day reincarnation of Julie Christie in her best work from the 1960s and 1970s: coldly ruthless and seductive, sexy and detached, a completely destabilizing presence for both men and women. Lively is in a fantastic role in this film.
A Simple Favor Quiz
And then Emily vanishes without a trace. Emily’s “best friend” Stephanie finds herself at the center of attention after the police are summoned to the scene. The actress assists Emily’s husband, Sean (Henry Golding), with the children, provides support for him during his time of grief and anxiety, and provides updates on her “vlog” (her follower count goes through the roof). Stephanie, on the other hand, gradually begins to suspect that there is more going on than meets the eye. What is it that Stephanie knows about Emily that she is not telling you? What is Emily’s name? Even Nicky refers to his wife as a “beautiful ghost,” which is a compliment. Stephanie, who has been underestimated and mocked, and who is intimidated by Emily’s cool gaze, discovers a strength she didn’t know she possessed, and “A Simple Favor” transforms into Stephanie: Girl Detective in a seamless transition. Emily’s past is being pieced together by her as she searches for clues. Stephanie continues to be the same mousy overachiever she always has been, dressed in cute little combos from The Gap, only now she is sneaking through apartments and offices and breaking into filing cabinets, accomplishing things she never thought she would—or could—become capable of.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this A Simple Favor quiz.
Working with strong, charismatic women and giving them the space to whoop it up, bounce ideas off one another, and be co-creators is one of Paul Feig’s strengths as a director. His approach leaves room for behavior, humor, and spontaneity, and he does so with a calm demeanor. Take, for example, Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in the film “The Heat.” That pairing could have easily turned into a franchise, and in fact should have turned into a franchise.) Despite the fact that the plot of “A Simple Favor” is intricate, with many unexpected revelations as well as some truly eerie sequences, the film does not feel overly planned. Stephanie, at one point, becomes frantic and yells at Nicky, “I’m going to die!” “Is it your intention to ‘Diabolique’ me? Your attempt to “Diabolique” me is truly terrifying!” A funny line that requires you to be familiar with the film “Diabolique,” a remake of the 1955 film “Les Diaboliques,” directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, about a wife and mistress who conspire to assassinate the husband they have in common. The fact that those French pop songs dominate the soundtrack of “A Simple Favor” is not by chance. The plot of “Gone Girl” has some similarities to the plot of “Gone Girl,” but that’s where the similarities should end. “Gone Girl” was a film that took itself extremely seriously. “A Simple Favor” is a comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. That’s a good thing, by the way.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Nutcracker And The Four Realms Quiz.
